Background
Roger D. Nelson developed the project as an extrapolation of two decades of experiments from the controversial Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR), which Nelson says appeared to show that electronic noise-based, random number generators (RNG or REG, random event generators) seem to be influenced by human consciousness to bring about a less-than-random sequence of data.
In an extension of the laboratory research called FieldREG, investigators examined the outputs of REGs in the field, before, during and after highly focused or coherent group events. The group events studied included psychotherapy sessions, theater presentations, religious rituals, sports competitions such as the Football World Cup, and television broadcasts like the Academy Awards.
FieldREG was extended to global dimensions in studies looking at data from 12 independent REGs in the US and Europe during a web-promoted "Gaiamind Meditation" in January 1997, and then again in September 1997 after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. The results suggested it would be worthwhile to build a permanent network of continuously-running REGs. This became the EGG project or Global Consciousness Project.
Comparing the GCP to PEAR, Nelson, referring to the "field" studies with REGs done by PEAR, said the GCP used "exactly the same procedure... applied on a broader scale."
Read more about this topic: Global Consciousness Project
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